


communication is important in the workplace

by NedandChuck



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: LISTEN I KNOW THE TAG SAID ITS ONESIDED BUT THATS MOSTLY JUST FOR THE CONTENT ITS ABSOLUTELY NOT, M/M, Pining, but its so important to me that u guys still know he does love him its fine., episode 148 spoilers, honestly......web martin core, i dont know how to tag things properly im really sorry, jon doesnt in this fic do anything or express his love for martin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 21:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20180764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NedandChuck/pseuds/NedandChuck
Summary: Martin gearing up to yell at Jon about his fun new hobby of sucking people dry of their worst fears and giving them nightmares about it for the rest of their lives.





	communication is important in the workplace

In Martin’s imagination, he storms into Jon’s office, tape recorder in hand and compelling speech about the humanity that Martin _knows_ he is capable of completely planned out. It is rehearsed, it is eloquent, and he somehow has rebuttals to every argument Jon might throw at him.

(He likes to think he knows Jon well enough, after all of the years they have worked together, to reliably predict at least most of the ways Jon has to put himself down.)

“Do you want to explain yourself?” Martin will demand, throwing the tape down on his desk. Maybe it will even startle Jon to hear Martin’s voice for the first time in so many months suddenly so angry and demanding after such a long time of his submissive behaviors.

Jon might retaliate with something about his actions being the nature of an avatar of Beholding, that he no longer has a choice if he wants to keep himself alive.

“Of course you have a choice, Jon,” Martin will keep his tone stern and his laugh dry, “The people telling you that it is too late for you are lying to you, they’re trying to manipulate you. Jon, Elias has been keeping things from you this whole time. He gaslights and he deceives and he tries to make you into something that he can use for the purpose of the Beholding, but you are not just a tool for them. You can’t let yourself be. I won’t let you be.”

It won’t be that easy – of course it won’t, this is Jon. He’ll argue and fight and point to the evidence of his new way of feeding and his near irresistible urge to hunt for those who he can drain of their fears. But it won’t matter, Martin has arguments already planned for those. He will remind Jon of all of the people on his side, who are willing to help if he will just let them rather than go behind their backs and act as though nothing is wrong. He might make a cutting remark comparing Jon’s recent behavior of withholding information or acting on his own impulses when he knows they are wrong to their former boss’. Above all, he will make sure Jon understands beyond a shadow of a doubt that Martin is willing to stand with him for as long as Jon will let him.

“Jon, I know that you don’t want to become this. You resisted it for so long, and now you’re giving in because you have given up. You’re letting your surface desires take over the voice screaming inside of you to resist and stay with us. If you keep this up, if you don’t actively fight to keep yourself human, you really will become a monster, even though you keep _saying_ it isn’t what you want. Please, Jon, just let us help you.”

Martin will let his voice soften. He will beg and plead if he has to, he will let himself cry and tell him how he feels-

No, he can’t take it that far, it’s not something that Jon needs to deal with on top of everything else.

Martin stares at the paper in front of him with all its crossed-out lines and scribbled ideas for arguments under the opening presentation he has written out to give to Jon.

Suddenly, he realizes that he can’t do any of this at all. He doesn’t know if he ever really believed he would, if it was ever anything more than a nice fantasy.

The papers are crumpled and thrown in the bin by his desk before he can think better of it, and he pulls out a pad of sticky notes. He might not be able to directly confront Jon, but he has to do something.

Minutes of frustration later, he has several spread out over his desk, each one too long or personal to be something he could give to his Archivist. Messages like “Explain yourself,” imply that he can talk back to Martin; “What do you think you’re doing?” feels much too much like a scolding a child. When he tries to cram the important notes of his original speech into one it becomes a hectic mess that is difficult to write into such a small space, never mind being able to read it.

This intervention is not something that is possible over something so trivial as some short notes Martin pulls out of his desk drawer, it needs to be done by someone who can really force Jon to explain himself, who can hold him accountable and demand answers to his face.

That someone can’t be Martin.

He pulls one last note off of his pad and pens a quick, “Talk to him.” It is underlined urgently and stuck to the recorder, looking sufficiently like an emergency for him to be satisfied.

Sneaking to Basira’s desk is easy enough, despite the fact that both she and Daisy are leaned against it, deep in conversation. Martin has become unsettlingly efficient at being able to conceal himself from people looking dead at him, which is near heartbreaking when he accidentally runs into Jon in the hallway.

The tape is slipped onto Basira’s desk and he is slinking through the shadows, back to his own office before they even see it.


End file.
